Still, it was startling when Matt stopped on the stairwell. But after a moment, Foggy gathered herself together and asked, "Okay, who's waiting for us up there?"
A moment later, however, he relaxed, and said, "It’s just Karen." They continued up the stairs then, even as Matt said, "She's really anxious, though. Pacing." That could be for any number of reasons, none of them good.
By the time they'd reached their floor, Matt himself was looking very anxious indeed. Foggy was imagining Karen about to ask them to help on a completely new quest for justice, telling them the killed Watchdogs were definitely the ones who'd attacked her, telling them the killed Watchdogs were definitely not the ones who'd attacked her, or even having another possibly-illegal deed to confess to.
"Karen?" Matt called as they stepped into the apartment. "What.s wrong?"
"You'd better sit down," she said. "You might want to get alcohol first, too." She gestured to the counter; she'd brought them beer.
When they were all sitting down, drinks in their hands, she said, "Frank paid me a visit yesterday."
Instantly Matt was demanding, "What? What did he want? He wasn't expecting you to thank him, was he? Are you afraid he'll come back?"
"No, no, he wasn't going to...I did tell him he shouldn't have killed those men, but he kind of ignored me there...someone knew he was alive. He wanted to know if I'd told anybody. I, uh, I did tell him I told you, but I insisted to him you wouldn't have told anyone, that I'd even gotten a promise from you to consider it privileged, Foggy."
"I don't think he trusts us that easily, Karen," said Matt.
"Yeah, he said that, that he trusts me, but not you. I might have given him an earful on that subject too in response." She actually smiled a little.
"You think any of it took?" Foggy asked. To her surprise, she felt a little indignant at Frank. Karen kept saying he was a man of his own code of honor; how could he have not recognized and respected the fact that his two lawyers were the same?
"I don't know," she said. "He wants me to help with this guy who seems to be stalking him, but the only moniker he's got for him is 'Micro.'"
"You're not seriously thinking about helping him, are you?" Foggy wouldn't have thought she would, but now...
Karen looked down for a moment, then said, "There's something going on here. I'm not even sure what it is, but...Micro managed to contact Frank, and he called himself another 'dead man,' another 'ghost in New York.' That could mean any number of things...but why would he contact Frank like this when he clearly doesn't know him, which means he only knows what the world's said about him, which would lead him to think Frank would definitely kill him? What kind of man would take that chance?"
It was Matt who answered: "A desperate one."
That did seem very possible, but Foggy had to say, "Or an extremely dangerous one. Look, Karen, even if you trust Frank..."
"Well, if this guy's stalking him, he might even know about me, anyway. It's only sensible I try to find some information out about him, know what we're dealing with. You might have to deal with him too, you know."
"Are you going to tell Frank about whatever you find?" Matt asked. "At least if you don't think he's in serious danger with this guy and he needs to know about that?"
"I don't know," said Karen, which sounded way too much like a yes, even when she added, "I'll probably decide once I know what there is to tell." She probably genuinely believed that right now. "Who knows, maybe I'll be able to help him and we won't have to get Frank involved." That, obviously not so much.
"You've been keeping an ear out for Frank, right, Matt?" Foggy asked. Matt had actually gone out for the first few nights after the Watchdogs had turned out dead mostly for that.
"I have," said Matt. "I haven't found a hint of him doing anything of remark besides killing these men, and even that I didn't have confirmed, although if he didn't deny it to you, Karen...I don't think he's even killed anyone else in a while; I've started to doubt there are any members of those gangs he was after left. I'm not quite sure where he's living. I think it's probably not in Hell's Kitchen itself. I do know he's gotten hired from a construction project down in the Lower East Side where they pay in cash, and that he often stays there after hours, even when they refuse to pay him for it." He shook his head. "Under different circumstances I'd be talking to him about how he really shouldn't be letting them exploit his labor like that, especially since at least some of his co-workers actually believe he's intellectually disabled."
A soft "oh" came out of Karen. It was obvious enough how they could've arrived at such a conclusion.
"I could probably look into this Micro myself," Matt continued. "Especially if you can get any more on him or how to identify him."
"You should definitely give us that," Foggy said to Karen.
"Of course I will," she said. Guessing Foggy's next question, she added, "I suppose I can hold off contacting Frank again until we've talked about whatever I find. It might take a little bit of time for him to respond, anyway. I'm afraid the only method of contact he left me was a pot of flowers to put in my window."
Foggy actually laughed. She couldn't help it.
But Matt frowned, and said, "That won't work without him at least semi-stalking you, which puts you at risk for being suspected to be his accomplice."
"Not necessarily," said Karen. "He's all too good at going undetected, and remember, everyone except the three of us and this one guy still thinks he's dead."
Matt looked like he wanted to argue further, but Foggy could tell it wouldn't do anything. So she just said, "Better get this done quickly, then."
"As fast as I can manage," Karen said, too quickly. Foggy didn't doubt she would try to get this done as fast as she could, but perhaps she would regret it. It was no secret that Frank Castle meant a lot to her, way more than he should, way more than either of them had ever intended for. Even under these circumstances, she must have been very happy to see him, and when this was done, who knew if she ever would again.
Matt insisted on shadowing her home. "For all we know, this Micro might have identified you already."
"Well," Foggy noted, "that would make it easy to find him, wouldn't it?"
With his costume over at Jessica's, Matt went to dress in black, while Foggy and Karen used the few minutes to wash out the used glasses. "Karen..." Foggy started when they were done.
"I may not know exactly what I'm doing," said Karen, "but there are some things you just have to do in life, and some people you just have to do them for-Matt's one of those people for both of us, and we're two of them for him. Like it or not, Frank's another one of them for me. I don't even entirely know why, Foggy, he just is."
Foggy couldn't say she didn't understand the feeling. "Just...be careful," she said. "Remember who he is and what he's done, and especially what he may be doing right now. Even if you don't do anything about it, don't actually forget that."
"I know," Karen sighed. "I'll try."
So Foggy was left alone that evening after all; she didn't even expect Matt to come back for a long while. But the conversation with Karen seemed to have already taken a bit out of her. Making herself a quick dinner and reviewing the latest filings from the government's lawyers easily did the rest. When she started to nod off while trying to read them, she put herself to bed, and was sound asleep within moments.
Then she saw who was standing there, and hastily grabbed Matt's cane, the easiest weapon on hand.
Frank put his hands up. "I'm not here to hurt you," he said. "You ain't someone I'm ever gonna hurt. Your husband wouldn't be either, but...well, that he's not here right now makes me pretty damn sure he happens to be someone I have already when he was wearing a mask, am I right?"
"I'm not confirming anything," Foggy snapped. She mostly believed him, but that just left her very annoyed at him. So she added, "But if it was true, surely it would occur to you that, really, having one vigilante continually coming in to wake me up at night is enough!"
"Look, I just need to talk to you two," he said. "Karen said she didn't want any more secrets between the three of you, even mine."
"She's only told us the ones that directly involved her," said Foggy. "Given the kind of turmoil some of that shit's caused her? You couldn't just demand she suffer in silence. And believe it or not, Mr. Castle, some lawyers actually have ethics, and as I'm sure she's told you, mine keep me from breathing a word about you to anyone, and Matt...well, I think he's pretty much decided to treat it the same way, and anyway, the three of us have taken to keeping each other's secrets beyond that."
Foggy thought she was convincing him, and for a moment she thought he might even just go away. But then he said, "If I'm right...Red's got really good hearing, hasn't he? Maybe to the point he might already know I'm here?"
"Still not confirming anything; please cease and desist with such questions." She even managed to keep her lawyer's face and tone in place, fat lot of good they were probably doing.
Except it seemed Matt would rather the Punisher know his secret than Foggy be left alone with him, because just then came the telltale thump on the roof, and Frank had the nerve to actually smile. "Red?" he called.
Matt had gone to Jessica's and changed into his proper armor, but he didn't even keep the mask on, hastening down with it held in his hands, which Foggy would've thought would've made it harder for him to fight. That left her so put out she just sighed, "You did not have to, Matt. Did you even think this through?"
"Foggy," he sighed back, "when the Punisher surprises your wife in your apartment, and your wife is also a lawyer working at a firm that has made some very morally dubious choices in its time, you are not taking any chances. Also, Frank, I want to know what I can do to get you to leave Karen out of this."
Frank shook his head. "It's her decision to help, Red. Only way we could've controlled that was I not tell her anything, so now..."
"He's got a point there, Matt," said Foggy, "much as I hate to say it. And you know to some extent Karen can take care of herself."
"To some extent," they heard Frank mutter under his breath. Well, a little too late for him to be lamenting who Karen was.
"Still," said Matt, "If maybe by lending you a hand, I can get her out of this quicker..."
Frank spared Foggy to need to yell it by saying it himself: "That's not how this works, Red. You wouldn't be able to let me kill anyone, I know that. Like I told you that one time..."
"Are you sure you're going to have to kill anyone on this one, Frank? I mean, I think if this Micro was intending to go after you, the last thing he would've done was put you on your guard."
"That assumes his behavior makes sense. He could be one of those crazy-ass villains who likes taunting people in very stupid ways."
"And if Karen finds something that indicates he's not?" Matt persisted.
Frank considered it. "Okay, maybe this'll end up being something you can help me on. Hell, you might know before I do, since I'm pretty sure Karen'll report to you before she does to me. That's fine, I ain't gonna push her on that one."
Sometimes Foggy forgot that Frank Castle could be a very smart man when he wanted to be. He would've first been caught a lot earlier if he hadn't been, after all. He probably also knew that Karen was more likely than not to tell him, and if for some reason she didn't, she'd almost certainly come to that decision completely on her own.
"Until then," said Frank, "I'll stay out of your way. If someone else attacks Karen, I'd appreciate it if you returned the favor."
"You do realize," Foggy said, "that she didn't want you to kill people for her? I know she told you that you shouldn't have killed those Watchdogs."
"And what if they come after her again? Those bastards have killed people who haven't done anything more than accidentally acquire superpowers, and next time they go after her she might not get as lucky, and I just can't..." He shook his head and made a frustrated noise.
So desperate to protect the life of someone reckless with it that he'd kill to do it, even against their wishes. And Foggy couldn't protest further without being a hypocrite.
Especially when her husband had folded his arms and said to the Punisher, "I'm not going to make any such promise."
But Frank just shrugged and said, "Your choice, then," and turned and headed out the way he had come. Foggy supposed they could've tried to detain him and call the police, but it honestly felt wrong to, and they probably wouldn't have succeeded anyway.
So instead there was an ordinary morning, at least as much as they had those these days. Matt had gone back out after Frank's departure, but Foggy thought he'd pretty much just gone to Jessica's and back. He'd woken up the next day very broody, but he'd always done that a lot. And he did look a bit more cheerful after he'd had some coffee.
It was nice enough a day to walk to work, which Foggy made a point of still doing sometimes. It would get hotter later that day, and the humidity wasn't all that promising, but it wasn't doing anything to her hair that couldn't be smoothed out on the elevator ride up.
She was walking into the building when her phone rang. Seeing is was Alias Investigations' number, Foggy sidled over to a corner of the lobby while she answered it.
"Hey, Ms. Nelson, it's Malcolm Ducasse. We've been working on who leaked those emails, and it looks like they were linked by people either in or linked to the Department of Homeland Security. We've got emails that go all the way up to Carson Wolf, the Special Agent in Charge for New York."
"What kind of emails?" Foggy forced her voice to remain neutral.
"Nothing that proves anything yet, unfortunately, though it is Ms. Jones' professional opinion," from the humor in his voice Foggy could imagine just how professionally that opinion had originally been delivered, "that they make it hard to believe he wasn't at least in the know, and possibly the main guy behind the leaks. Unfortunately, he also think he's very good at getting out of trouble; he even got the Bulletin to not run a story at one point."
"Really?" Karen would be all over that, obviously. "Any idea of what that might have been about?"
"Well, at a guess, I would think it was about the supposed criminal that Wolf shot and killed out in the street last October, because he did do that. A guy called Lieberman, had been working for the NSA. White guy, too, so I don't think Wolf murdered him just for kicks. Probably whatever really happened's classified."
There were reasons someone might ask the head of a newspaper not to publish something. Some of them were even legitimate, though most of those wouldn't want a story withheld from the public forever, just until an investigation concluded, or something like that. Foggy didn't think this was a case of that. "Well," she said, "thanks for telling us all that. I'll talk to my three colleagues, and then call you or Jessica again later?"
Although since the four of them had pretty much agreed they could tell Karen who leaked the emails, the first thing she did after hanging up was text her, We really do need that lunch. And can you hold off on your latest project until then? Of course, they'd be in trouble anyway if the wrong person had been listening in or her and Malcolm, or listened into the upcoming conference call that now had to happen, but at least it would be a little harder for Wolf to use that against them publicly, and texts also remained riskier than phone calls anyway. Thankfully Karen's response was a simple acquiescence, arriving as she stood in the elevator.
She then texted both Matt and Jennifer, telling them only that she had news and to call into Marci's number for a conference call. She spotted Jose working on something with one of the other PAs, which probably made things easier. Cheryl would arrive in about half an hour, by which time Foggy hoped to have a better idea of how to explain this one to her. Though if the likes of Carson Wolf ever even breathed the names of her children, Foggy would wrangle out of the law every way she could find to heap as much misery on him as possible.
When she called Marci's name, the door opened, and her friend said to her "Whatever's happening today..."
"Involves us being wronged by someone powerful. React to that how you will."
"Oh dear..." was how she reacted to that. That was pretty understandable.
Matt had already called in, and Jennifer did so pretty quickly, so Foggy was able to tell all three of them at once. Jennifer's reaction involved a surprising amount of swear words, while Matt didn't say anything immediately. Marci just stood there with her brow furrowed, and Foggy found herself thinking she just might be the first of them to devise a plan that had a real chance of getting something accomplished.
Maybe she would have, too, if Matt hadn't said, "Maybe we need to get our hands on more of Wolf's email. Marci, Jennifer, if Foggy and I said we might know someone who might be able to get them but that we can't tell you any more, would you be willing to trust us?"
Marci looked up at Foggy, and Foggy had absolutely no idea how she kept a straight face on, or really, how she managed to not drop her jaw in complete and utter shock that Matt would make this suggestion. Maybe he didn't mean who she thought he meant, she told herself. Maybe he was hoping to get into contact with Romanov or something.
That was probably what Marci thought he was planning to do when she said, "Well, I trust Foggy at least." Great, more for Foggy to feel guilty over.
At least until she got that wicked grin, and said, "Do you think you could ask your hacker friend to get the embarrassing emails? See if maybe he committed crimes purely for himself; that would be more likely to bring him down."
"I'll certainly put in that request," said Matt, and he sounded far too happy. Foggy had been right to worry about him and Marci putting their heads together.
As soon as she was out of Marci's office afterwards, she texted Matt, We talk before you do anything. At least this time he too quickly acquiesced. Although just after she'd sat down in her own office, he then texted, All three of us should do lunch today. He'd already texted Karen, too, and when her agreement came on his heels, Foggy decided not to argue.
Except they ended up getting unintentionally merged when, having heard first about Frank's night visit without comment, and then about Carson Wolf, Karen asked, "If we find this Micro person and he turns out to be a hacker, are you going to ask him for help with that? I think that might get us all tangled up together where I, and probably Frank too, will find out more about what's going on than you'd want, just to warn you."
"If Matt has been thinking of that," said Foggy, wishing for the umpteenth time these two people of hers weren't so alike, "hopefully that would be one of the many things to give him pause."
"Maybe," said Karen, "but the other side is already breaking the rules, so can't you at least bend them? You don't have to actually tell me anything, you know."
"Unless not knowing it endangers your life," Foggy countered,"which, by the way, is one of those ethical dilemmas I've had nightmares about from the time I decided I wanted to become a lawyer, but you getting tangled up in the matter of Carson Wolf takes it from something that could possibly someday happen to something that seems all too likely to happen."
"I think," Matt said quietly at this point, "that such a dilemma is not one that would last very long, Foggy."
Of course it wouldn't. Of course Matt would take care of it for her. She felt like an idiot for not realizing that already. Which only left her angrier at them both.
And much more so at Matt. Whirling on him, she said, "Since we don't known about any imminent threats to any of our lives just this moment, in front of Karen I will say only that you are a reckless idiot who decides to do something and doesn't stop to consider even the most obvious reasons for it being a terrible idea, and when the potential consequences for this one..."
"The way I see it," said Karen, who, Foggy supposed, could answer freely when Matt couldn't, "you're going up against the powerful, and you've already relied on one ally with a lot of technical ability whom you could never really trust fully. If, perfectly hypothetically, you're now going to bring in another one, well, there's a good chance such an individual would be a better person than Tony Stark, at least."
There was a genuine chance of that, but Foggy had more doubts than Karen did. "Of course if we were doing anything," she said, "I doubt Marci would agree to let us to confirm a thing to you about how until we've got more reportable information, so..."
"I'll go ahead and talk to Ellison about Wolf, then?" Karen asked. "Maybe he'll even have more information about this guy he gunned down. Shows a nasty pattern of consistent behavior, in any case."
She was even nice enough to clear out a little early, and Foggy and Matt were finally left alone. It wasn't five seconds after she left the roof that he said, "Look, I know this Micro might not turn out to be someone we want to trust at all, and if so, he'll never hear about any of this."
"And how much are you going to investigate and how much are you just going to rely on your gut?" she countered. "Especially if you aren't going to let Marci or Jennifer be involved in that decision-hell, will you even let me have my say, or will you just make up your mind when you run into him in the middle of only you the Devil knows where..."
"I can keep from doing that," said Matt. "It might not be just me monitoring him anyway-or me and Frank either," because he knew what Foggy would think of that, "I think Rand's likely to get himself involved in this too, sooner or later. Ever since Karen was attacked he's been trying to keep an eye on just about everything south of Central Park."
"That's not of much comfort, quite frankly," said Foggy. "Not when I've had Colleen argue to me that he's even worse than you. Besides, we don't know what would happen if he and Frank ran into each other, and maybe it would be better to not find out, you know?"
"Yeah," Matt nodded. "Although who knows, maybe Frank'll end up getting mixed up with Carson Wolf as well. Karen told you that there's evidence the Department of Homeland Security was connected to that sting operation gone wrong, right?"
"Oh, come on," Foggy sighed. "Surely our lives aren't going to turn out to be that crazy...."